The Commemorative Tragedy of a Young Soul
by OCsRuleMyLife
Summary: Do you want me to remember how I died? Sometimes a ghost is reminded by an action of another. Sometimes a ghost is reminded by the swooping sound that recalls their own grim, bloody fate. My name is Sayo Aisaka. A portion of my life is tethered to this school. And I'm going to tell you what really happened. (All potential violations fixed. I hadn't meant this as 2nd person anyway.)
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is going to sound a whole lot like the newest trailer for CODBOT Zombies. That's because, as an honor to the fact that it is the last map for the game, I'm writing a fic (that I actually intend on finishing...).**

* * *

The Commemorative Tragedy of a Young Soul,

A Prologue

_Do you want me to remember how I died? Because bringing me out to Evangeline in the forest and bringing her an eye of frog and tail of newt, singing 'double double toil and trouble' isn't going to do it. It won't bring me back alive again, either. Finding all the ingredients to a potion that you give me won't help. No, that's not how a ghost gets her memory back. It's time. Time and touch. Sometimes a ghost is reminded by an action of another. Sometimes a ghost is reminded by the swooping sound that recalls their own grim, bloody fate. But it's usually just time. I don't remember how I died. I don't remember much of how I lived. But I remember a little. Just a piece, the essence of which is bound eternally and silently to Mahora Academy. I don't suppose anyone had ever stopped to wonder, if I died in a war accident, why the Academy didn't suffer any permanent damage. Or think about the traps on Library Island. Only a few people have really stopped to ask what Library Island has housed. And the answer they get—well, books, mostly. We're sure that those books were so valuable that it was worth the time, effort, and potential danger to hide a basic magical artifact or two._

The young ghost sighs, kicking her ethereal legs back and forth, her calves going slightly into the table that acts as her perch with each swing. She looks up at the new student as she enters the room, blinking her gentle eyes, and watching her face.

_Here to gawk at the ghost, _she asks.

She shakes her head, and sits on a desk beside her, putting herself in a more comfortable position. In truth, she doesn't know why she's there. Some strange force pulled all reason from her mind, and sent her wandering with some odd purpose to this room. To this ghost.

And now, whether it's the odd chill that dances like a gypsy up and down her spine, the tingling hair on her neck, the cold feeling that begins to gnaw greedily on the tips of her toes… something is keeping her here, wanting her to wait for some answer. Some closure.

Sayo watches her, and lets her feet fade away into the characteristic wisp of formlessness that seems to follow ghosts around. She floats over to her, watching her cautiously, her eyes darting nervously between her face and her hands, worried some secret weapon might emerge. Finally, she places her hand on the girl's shoulder, her face a mere breath away from her own.

_You're here to learn._

The hand on her shoulder, tingling her nerves in a cold chill of a handprint, moves down your arm, bristling her hair and making bumps rise like dead from their graves along your forearm to your wrist. _I don't remember how I died, if that's what you want._

_I know._

She takes her hand, and nods. She takes the girl outside, floating slowly down the streets of Mahora, feeling the chill of a breeze, under the pale moon. Pale as death. She stops along the shore to look out at Library Island. _Do you know what's under there?_

She shakes her head again. _Nobody does._

She nods, and the breeze actually seems to move her hair like a silken veil, brushing by her cheek like a gentle roll of Arctic water.

They stand like this for a long time, the cold not touching her, and only gently blowing and caressing her right side.

_My name is Sayo Aisaka. A portion of my life is tethered to this school. And I'm going to tell you what really happened._

* * *

**AN: If you like this story and would like it to continue, please give me some notification, be it review, message, whatever. I only want to write a story that people actually want to read, so let's save both of us some trouble and write a little opinion.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Zombies.**

* * *

The Commemorative Tragedy of a Young Soul:

Every Story Has a Beginning

_It began long before you were born. During the Second World War, a small segment of historians began to move more books into Library Island for safekeeping. The collection quickly grew too large for the current library to house, so plans were drafted to expand the building downward, into the largest library complex in the world. After building and drawing a basic map for at least fourteen lower floors, every worker mysteriously fell ill, and reported uncanny thumping from below the bottom floor in the night, and even screeches and screams from rooms no one was in. However, these were usually passed off as natural occurrences, and no investigation was conducted. The workers, when they had returned to the surface for medical attention, began to talk about the voice in their heads. According to the workers, a feminine voice had instructed them to dig into the wall at the end of a constructed hallway, previously planned for nothing but a small storage space. Upon pushing the wall back a few meters, the workers discovered a strange symbol, partly concealed by the floor. However, excavation of the symbol was not completed, because it was then that the workers all became horribly sick. It was assumed they were overworked and fatigued, and were put on leave to recover their strength. To be sure that they weren't doing ironic damage to a historical site beneath the island, the Academy hired archaeologist Hiraku Kagome to investigate the symbol, along with the novice scientist Tatsuya Fujimoto to see if any materials, chemical, mineral, or otherwise, could explain the workers' reports. In early 1940, they came to the Academy…_

_~ # ~_

Sayo looked out her room window, watching the tarp-covered truck roll steadily into the Academy's main lot.

"Hey, Sayo-chan, whatcha lookin' at?"

Sayo's roommate's head poked curiously over her shoulder. She adjusted her glasses up her nose, and pulled her black hair up into a ponytail on the side of her head. The light-haired girl looked sideways at the curious individual beside her, "That truck. What do you suppose they would put in there?"

The girl beside her leaned one hand against a pane of glass in the window, squinting her eyes slightly, and using the other hand to adjust her glasses again. She had a slender figure, and although her shoulders were somewhat wider than average, she made up for it with the slimness of her waist. She tapped her thin fingers against the window, then turned to Sayo with a grin, "They're probably hear to investigate the extra layers under Library Island. They say there are _ghosts_ there!"

She raised her hands and wriggled her fingers in Sayo's direction, who batted the hands away with a frown that tried not to be amused. "Yukari-chan… that's not funny…"

Yukari procured a small smirk, and leaned against the window, "Truth be told, I'm not sure what they might actually be doing. Do you suppose that that's a relief team or something?"

Sayo shrugged, and looked out the window, her eyes scanning the truck closely. She pointed, her finger jammed poignantly against the glass, and got her face closer to observe better, "It looks like they might be digging for something. They have some motors and shovels and things…"

Yukari tapped her chin, "We should go and ask. Maybe they found something special under there."

The shorter girl returned her gaze to the window, "But, we're just teenage girls… and I'm not really that curious…"

Yukari put her hand on her friend's shoulder, and leaned toward her slightly, saying, "But _I_ am."

Sayo looked back towards her friend, and sighed. "Oh, alright. You win. We'll ask," she paused, before putting a finger to Yukari's lips, "But we're not going and investigating or anything silly like that."

Two strong arms wrapped happily around her, "Awwww, thanks, Sayo-chan!"

She sighed again, and put her arms behind Yukari, hands on her shoulder blades. "Of course, Yukari-chan. You're too hard to say no to."

This was met with a grin, before the girl stood up, the blue ribbon she wore to keep her ponytail up flapping gently as she bobbed, "Then there's no time to waste. It's supposed to rain tonight."

~ # ~

The two girls in wool coats stood in the downpour, waiting outside the military tarp tent as instructed. Sayo's head was protected by a hood and her arms were tucked into each other's sleeves. She looked between the sets of objects that laid about out of the tent; a small map of what appeared to be the lower levels of Library Island, a red, rusty generator to power some electronics in the tent, a briefcase with the initials TMF typed, somewhat slanted, into the handle, a case labeled 'Flammable, Use With Extreme Caution', and a book closed, with a title that Sayo assumed was in German. Yukari had her slick black hair still in the tail at the side of her head, the blue ribbon still wrapped securely in place. She wore no hood, and didn't seem to mind the rain, tapping her foot impatiently while silently examining the wet ground. The tan tent flap made a quiet clapping noise as it fell back into place, having been silently opened. The two girls looked up to see a smiling man, with a friendly, boyish face, a medium sized pair of circular glasses, a grey coat that fell to his knees, and black leather boots that came up to where the coat stopped. He bowed in greeting, saying in a clear tenor voice, "Good afternoon. I am Fujimoto-san. I apologize for the delay. I needed to calibrate my instruments," he pulled his hood up over his short black hair, "Is there something I can do for you, girls?"

The hoodless girl put her hand on the back of her head uncomfortably, "Yes. We were just curious about what you came to do here."

A second truck drove by behind them, towards Library Island, and Fujimoto raised a salutary hand towards the driver. "The man who just passed can tell you much better than I. He's the one in charge."

Sayo and Yukari watched the truck as it puttered loudly across the bridge to the island.

"Who is he?"

"That's Kagome-san. He's the chief archeologist for the expedition."

"Expedition?" Yukari raised a curious brow.

"Yes. We're heading down below the island to investigate a potential historical artifact. I will be monitoring any possibly dangerous substances to assure the safety of further use of the library. I'm afraid there's not much more I know."

Yukari's brow lowered again, now furrowing slightly, "If you did, would you tell us?"

The man gave an official smile, "That would depend on the nature of the information."

Yukari frowned and nearly spoke again, but was cut off by a brisk clap from the scientist, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a set of gas masks to check for technical failure."

He turned on a heel, and slipped back into his tent without another word. Yukari looked at Sayo, who shrugged timidly, and turned away. They walked on back towards their dorm, and Yukari stopped beside a bench. "Sayo-chan…"

Sayo swiveled, looking back at Yukari and crossing her arms into an X, "No, Yukari-chan. I won't."

Yukari kicked at the sidewalk timidly, and muttered, "I could just do it alone…"

Sayo twitched her left eyebrow, wiping some of the heavy rain off of her face, "Yukari-chan! No!"

Yukari raised her hands, palms up, the torrential rain bouncing dramatically off of her soft skin, "Either you can go with me, or I will go alone. _I'm _going. You don't have to."

The albino girl narrowed her eyes, "Yukari-chan…"

The addressed turned around, her arms crossed, "Don't look at me like that. I can't help my curiosity."

Sayo frowned, and put her hands into her coat pockets, watching Yukari's hair drip silently, creating ripples in the puddle beneath her right foot.

"I can't let you go alone…"

"But you won't come with."

Yukari looked back at Sayo with a smile, "Don't worry. I'll be okay. I'll just peek and see what they're doing."

Her hand was caught, "Yukari-chan… I can't let you do that."

She tugged her hand out of Sayo's tentative grip, "Well you're going to have to. I just want to see!"

Sayo took a few steps towards her, but stopped, realizing it was a pointless endeavor, and instead let her hands drop to her sides, "I'm going with you, to keep you safe. That's all."

Yukari grinned, "Good. I hoped you'd say that."

~ # ~

When evening had fallen, the two girls crept out towards the island, the rain now pouring down in sheets that seemed to include some hail. The two hid behind a stone rail around the bridge, and Yukari peeked around it silently. She had a brown leather satchel over her shoulder, the contents of which she had not revealed to Sayo, though she could only assume it was some assortment of useful objects. Yukari removed her glasses, and wiped them on her coat, adjusting her rain boots slightly, and then silently double checking the safety of endeavoring. She waved an okay, and she and Sayo ran, keeping low, across the long bridge toward Library Island. Upon approaching the camp, they dropped behind a couple of crusty barrels, and Sayo pursed her lips. All of the sneaking around wasn't a favorable course of action, in her opinion. They slipped quickly by the workers, using the sound of the heavy rain as perfect distraction to run quickly, and managed in the door of Library Island, passing a sign that read, 'No Student Entry: Closed for Renovation'. Upon slipping inside, Yukari looked at Sayo, quietly asking, "What kind of renovation requires an archeological team and a science crew?"

Sayo shrugged, having no possible alternative for her friend, and scanned the room, lowering her hood. It was empty, other than the books that lined the walls and followed deep into the recesses of the other rooms on the upper floors of the library. Yukari completely ignored these, and scoped out an elevator lift, with a bright yellow light beside the entrance. She looked around again, and quickly half-jogged over to it, pushing open the metal grates, and stepping in. "Hey, Sayo-chan, where do you suppose this leads?"

Sayo walked towards her slowly, her shoes padding gently against the tiled floor, "I don't know. But don't you think that the one that is up at ground level might not be the one we need to get to where you want to go?"

Yukari thought for a moment, before stepping out of the elevator and shutting the grates again, turning back towards Sayo and giving a mildly embarrassed half-smile, "Yeah, I guess that's true. We'll just have to find a better way down."

Just then, both girls were startled by a familiar voice coming from behind them, "Aisaka-san? Mori-san?"

They turned, and stood face to face with a girl with long black hair, a tall box on her back, and a slender figure, easily standing a head and a half above both of them, wearing a traditional black kimono. Yukari put her hands on her hips, looking up at the newly found girl, "Tatsumiya-sempai. What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you that question, Mori-san."

Yukari crossed her arms stubbornly, "You first."

The shrine maiden crossed her arms behind her back, and stood in a neutral position with her feet shoulder length apart, "I have been asked to help as part of a reserve detail to handle menial tasks or transport people to and from the surface. I suspect you two are simply sneaking in."

Yukari skidded onto her face, and a large drop of sweat slid down Sayo's head as she averted her eyes with a 'heh'.

"So… I suppose you're going to kick us out now."

"No."

Both Sayo and Yukari looked up at their upperclassman confusedly, who rolled her eyes, "I need to bring you down to Fujimoto-san, to make sure you haven't contaminated yourselves by coming in without being examined and equipped first. If you had kept your noses to yourselves," she shot a pointed glance at Yukari, "Then we wouldn't have to do this."

Yukari pulled herself up using a bookshelf beside her, murmuring, "I was just curious…"

Tatsumiya rolled her eyes once again, and as she walked towards the elevator, gave a sarcastic, "In related news, orange juice comes from oranges."

She opened and stepped into the elevator, and turned, standing with her hands at her back, and watching the other two girls, "Well, come on then. We need to get you down to Fujimoto-san."

In a couple minutes, they had descended to the bottommost reaches of the island, and were waiting quietly by the doorway of the elevator, Yukari sitting comfortably on a barrel, one leg propped up where her elbow could lean against it, the other hanging loosely along the side of the barrel. Sayo sat on the tiled floor in seiza position, looking down the hallway towards where the shrine maiden had disappeared.

"What do you suppose she was up there for?"

Sayo looked up at Yukari, who looked at her quizzically. Sayo bent her head down a bit in thought, "Maybe she was escorting someone to the surface?"

"I guess that's possible. She did say that was part of her job."

Just then, a flash of sparks gave a brief luminescent aura around the end of the hallway, and the filament in the light beside the entrance burst, leaving the glass fading and dark. Sayo tensed, her eyes widening, and gave a small, brief scream. Within moments, Tatsumiya had come back around the corner into the hallway, her hand reaching towards the box on her back. She looked around the dark hallway, and dropped her arm. Her eyes turned slowly towards the now powerless elevator, and then closed briefly. As they opened again, her voice smoothly ran with, "The power probably got hit by lightning. Come along. I've gotten permission for you to come at least far enough to get a brief medical check," as she turned, she added firmly, "And then leave. Are we understood, Mori-san?"

Yukari narrowed her eyes, and spoke in a mildly offended tone, "Of course."

The two girls got to their feet, looking at the elevator one last time, and began to follow their guide. The hallways they walked through began to widen, and soon they were walking, instead of between walls of rock, cobbled stone, and organized, well-colored wood, between bookshelves so tall it was impossible to see the tops of them. The shelves were lined with books of every kind in every language; some letters they recognized, some they did not.

"The tops of the shelves actually serve as the floor for the higher reaches of the basement."

Yukari shook her head, and continued following, looking at Sayo every once and a while, who seemed completely and unchangeably absorbed with the area around her. It was indeed captivating—the tile on the floor was black and white marble, making the floor appear like a giant, glinting chess board. The shelves were made of what appeared to be oak, with a bright and beautiful finish. Yukari reached into her bag, and withdrew a flashlight, which she quickly made use of in the dark passageway. Tatsumiya looked back at her, then forward again, with a small, amused exhale through her nose, "What, scared of the dark?"

"Not the dark. Just of not seeing."

From then, they walked in silence, observing the area around them carefully. As they turned a corner, Tatsumiya stopped, "Do you hear that?"

Yukari and Sayo both stopped, and Yukari put one hand on her hip, "Hear what? I don't hear anything."

Tastumiya raised a hand to signal them to stop, and took a few steps forward, "Exactly. We're right next to the dig site. We should hear, at the very least, someone attempting to get a generator working. I was just here and they hadn't gotten it fixed yet."

Yukari swallowed quietly, "Maybe they're on break?"

The older girl shot her a look, and turned back towards the dig site. From where they stood, the entrance to the dig site was just the entrance to a regular hallway, with a marble outline and an engraved label, which was currently covered with a sheet of thin paper. Tatsumiya took the box off of her back, silently lowering it to the ground, and unclasping the straps at the top. She opened the flap, and reached in, pulling up two rods. When they were fully out, they were clearly visible as two spears, one with a larger blade and one with a smaller one, which she held with a knowing authority. She then pressed the sharp end of the smaller one into the bottom of the larger one, and held now a full-sized naginata. She closed up the box, and returned it to her back, leading them towards the hallway silently and cautiously. Looking right and left as she stepped in, she waved the other two girls to follow. They slowly stepped into the hallway, to find it completely and utterly abandoned. There was a flash of light and sound of exploding powder in a firearm to their left. The three girls wheeled, Tatsumiya holding her naginata's blade before her. She pointed back at a box of equipment silently, while stepping towards the descent towards the rune in the wall, which now had a man-sized hole below it. The incline was steady, and Tatsumiya had to slide down the dirt a few times to safely arrive at the bottom of the drop. It was about a seven foot vertical, spread over only about an equal seven feet. She put a hand on what was left intact of the rune, examining it, while the other two girls rifled through the equipment. Yukari lifted a Type 26 hammerless revolver, and handed it back to Sayo, who shook her head, "No, no, I can't take that," she turned her head to Tatsumiya, "Why are there even guns here?"

The black-haired girl looked back at them, and spoke in a just audible whisper, "I'm not sure. Fujimoto-san brought them. Give that one to me. The Type 26 has a firing issue, and I don't want you getting hurt."

Sayo nodded, and ran it over to Tatsumiya, who took it and pushed it into the upper part of her kimono, tight against her chest. Yukari pulled out a small knife, a hatchet, and another pistol, of a different design, "What's this one, Tatsumiya-sempai? It's the only other one."

The older girl walked over, climbing out of the ditch, and looking down at the black pistol, resembling a luger, lying on the ground, "A Nambu Type 94 8 millimeter semi-automatic pistol. Just don't push the trigger bar on the left side."

"Why?"

"Because that makes it fire."

"Why?"

"What are you, three? It was designed badly."

Yukari looked at the gun for a moment, and looked back up with an embarrassed smile, "Which part is that?"

Tatsumiya drew a gentle line with the tip of her finger, "If it's loaded and the safety's off, pressing here will make it fire."

Yukari handed it to Sayo, mumbling, "To Sayo-chan it is, then."

Sayo tried not to take it, but it continued to be shoved into her hands, so she ultimately took it and put it inside her coat, sighing and crossing her arms. Yukari lifted up the hatchet, and looked up at Tatsumiya, "What is this here for?"

"To break down any wooden barriers in the archeological site. I can't leave you two here alone, so come along with me."

As they began to go towards the hole in the wall, Sayo snatched the knife off the ground and pocketed it. It might be useful for making a fire or something.

They slid down the dirt ramp to the excavation, and Tatsumiya led the way with her naginata held outward, but they all three suddenly stopped when a voice went through all three of their heads.

_Help me! Please! I'm trapped!_

Tatsumiya looked around in alarm, "What was that?"

A low moaning came from the passageway before them, and Tatsumiya spun the naginata in her hand, feeling its center of gravity, "Who's there?"

There was no response, and Tatsumiya held up a hand to stop the other two from moving, as she carefully stepped toward the source of the noise. They could see, within the range of Yukari's flashlight, that the tunnel began to widen out, and the ceiling rose, so that you might be able to fit five or six men walking shoulder to shoulder with perfectly comfortable head space. Tatsumiya reached back for the flashlight, which was quickly given to her. When she had finally gotten it, she pointed it farther down the tunnel, and Sayo screamed. Before them was an anthropomorphic creature, which once must have been human, but now knelt down, tearing pieces away from a dead digger's arm. Tatsumiya's eyes widened, and she dashed forward, driving the naginata through the thing's skull, and kicking it off of the blade. Suddenly, the hand of the miner wrapped tightly around her ankle, and her hand snapped down quickly, instantly impaling its chest with the traditional spear.

Yukari clutched the hatchet to her chest, "Something's not right…"

Tatsumiya looked back at Yukari, and flatly asked, "You don't say?"

Sayo stuck a fingernail between her teeth, chewing nervously, "We should leave… we really should leave… we really really really should leave…"

Tatsumiya wiped the naginata's blade on her kimono, "Where to? The elevator is out, and the dig site is empty. The only plausible direction of safety is forward."

"I don't think that's right… can't we just wait in the dig site?"

"What about Fujimoto-san, or Kagome-san, or the workers? Are we going to leave them in there?"

There was another flash of gunfire down the hallway, this time more rapid and repeated. Tatsumiya stepped over the corpse of whatever she had killed, and looked down the corridor for a moment, "Not to mention, I have the flashlight."

She took off at a run, and Yukari grabbed Sayo's wrist pulling her along after her. If there was one thing they couldn't afford to lose, it was light. The three girls ran along the stone passageway quickly, two pairs of boots and one pair of sandals clapping loudly on the ground. The leader skidded to a stop as three more of the things came into view, all having clearly once been workers. They turned towards her, flesh beginning to rot already, the process sped by some unknown force. Tatsumiya didn't stop to think about it. As they began to run towards the three girls, arms extended maliciously, Sayo covered her eyes and put her face in Yukari's shoulder. Tatsumiya spun the naginata through the first beast, cutting it cleanly in vertical halves, stopped the one to her right with the blunt end through its left eye, and drew the pistol from her kimono, hoping to any deity that would listen that it was loaded as she pressed it against the third one's forehead and pulled the trigger. The top of its head blew clean off, and she kicked it over, spinning and pulling the naginata out of the last creature's eye, and twisting around to shove the blade up into its ribcage, then pulling it out and stepping aside to let it collapse. She kicked the flashlight back to Yukari and Sayo, and the lighter-haired girl lifted it nervously, eyes now open again.

Another light was seen down the hall, this time not a gunshot, but what appeared to be another flashlight, "Tatsumiya-san! Is that you?"

She squinted into the light, using the gun and her left hand to shield her eyes, "Fujimoto-san?"

The man stepped into their flashlight's view, holding a Type 26, same as Tatsumiya. He was wearing black leather boots and gloves, and a dark gray set of jacket and pants, his round glasses reflecting the light brightly. "Yes, yes, it's me. Tatsumiya-san, are you alone?"

"No. Aisaka Sayo and Mori Yukari were potentially contaminated by the residue you and your men have been tracking up and down the library. They have the flashlight."

"Oh. Well, we had better get them checked out, then. Kagome-san and a few of the workers are working in a chamber we found. This was all still intact behind the wall. We didn't have to dig anything else."

Tatsumiya frowned, "Are you alone, Fujimoto-san?"

"No. There are five of us. What's going on?"

"We heard gunshots. I was going to ask you the same question."

"Did you see the same… things?"

"I assume so. Fujimoto-san, we should find a better place to have this conversation."

A groan came from behind Fujimoto, and he turned, shining his light on the four men behind him, all holding digging tools like weapons. He watched carefully, his eyes diligently scanning the hallway for a few moments before, "We need to get back. Fast. We have no idea how many there are or—"

The ceiling cracked.

Tatsumiya's eyes darted back, and she spun, snatching Yukari and Sayo's wrists, dropping both her naginata and pistol on the ground, and heaving the two girls backwards as a section of the ceiling crumbled to where they were standing. She coughed away some dust, and looked at the two younger girls, "Are you alright?"

Sayo silently nodded, and Yukari replied with a quiet affirmative. She pulled them both to their feet. "Fujimoto-san, we need to get out of here now. This whole hallway is going to collapse by the look of it."

"Right, absolutely right."

Tatsumiya gently pushed the girls ahead of her, letting them run on while she collected her weapons, and quickly catching up to them. They could hear the crumbling of the careful tunneling, and their hearts beat harder and harder, pressing in time with their fast footsteps. They were waved into a large antechamber, the ceiling collapsing to form a rough layer on the floor, where one would have to crawl, quite enclosed, through to escape the area. Fujimoto grimaced. "That's not good."

"At least you survived."

They all turned to the voice, and looked at the older Japanese man sitting on a chest of equipment. He had the stubbly gray beginnings of a beard, silvering hair, a rough-looking, tan, cloth jacket, and tan pants that tucked into brown, leather boots. Fujimoto's expression lifted slightly. "I suppose that is true, Kagome-san."

_I can help you!_

Tatsumiya raised her naginata as everyone else looked around in shock. She retained her neutral expression, speaking calmly, "Who are you?"

_My name is Xipil. If you help me get out, I swear I will return the favor!_

"How can we trust you?"

_Feel free not to. I doubt you will get very far without me._

Tatsumiya silently eyed everyone else in the room. Fujimoto was kneeling beside Sayo, who had buried her head into her hands. Yukari was attached to the other side of her, rubbing her back gently and looking around worriedly. Kagome had his arms crossed and seemed to be contemplating the voice. The workers all stood or sat where they were, seeming too shocked to move. Kagome looked up at Tatsumiya and spoke in an old, melodic tone, "Whether or not the little girl's voice is going to help us, we need to get some power on. There should be an extra generator in one of these boxes. Would you help an old man out and help me find it?"

Tatsumiya nodded, and they set to work on pulling the tops off of boxes, trying to find the generator.

~ # ~

_Maybe we should have listened to Xipil from the beginning. Maybe we never should have listened to her at all. Maybe it would have been better to sit in the dark and wait for someone to try to get us out, making no noise and not moving a centimeter. I don't know. I was scared, and didn't care who we listened to. I just wanted to go home._

* * *

**Somebody please review? Please? Anybody? I would greatly appreciate knowing what people think of this. I'm sorry chapters take so long. Just getting into college as well as working on my writing style. If feel like my stories are, as a whole, coming out better, but this will make them take longer. Like pizza. Anyway, have a good day, and please leave a review!**


End file.
